Steaming pitchers are known in the art for use in mixing steam with fluids, particularly dairy products such as milk, for use in the preparation of hot beverages such as espresso coffee drinks or steamed milk drinks. Typically a conventional steaming pitcher is partially filled with fluid, such as milk, and mixed with pressurized steam such as from a steaming wand of an espresso coffee machine to make in the pitcher heated fluid mixed or frothed by the steam. In the process of mixing and heating the milk with the steam, air is typically entrained into the mixture to form froth or foam, preferably in the form of very small bubbles in the milk, which is desirable for preparation of many mixed coffee beverages such as lattes or cappuccino, for example. Conventional steaming pitchers known in the art are typically made of stainless steel or other suitable metal and of generally cylindrical shape with a closed substantially flat bottom and open top, and a handle for holding by a user. Conventional steaming pitchers typically have sidewalls which extend upwards from a substantially flat bottom or base, and are either substantially straight (cylindrical shape), chined (dual-angled), or slightly bell shaped above the substantially flat bottom. Examples of conventional steaming pitchers known in the art may be found in the illustrations and descriptions of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,792,848, 6,324,963 and D501,354.
In the use of a steaming pitcher, it is desirable that the steamed fluids prepared in the steaming pitcher be homogeneously mixed and heated by the steam, particularly in the case where milk is to be mixed with another fluid such as a flavoring syrup for example during the steaming process. Homogeneous mixing and heating of the fluids in the steaming pitcher is also desirable to improve the uniformity of froth or foam in the fluid mixture which preferably comprises very small bubbles of air entrained into the fluids by the flow of steam into the fluids and by the resulting flow of fluids inside the pitcher. The use of conventional steaming pitchers as known in the art, particularly by unskilled users, may commonly result in undesirable unevenly mixed and heated steamed fluids, due to one or more limitations in the design of conventional steaming pitchers. Specifically, when using a conventional steaming pitcher, the pressurized steam jet from a steaming wand typically reflects in a random or uncontrolled manner off the flat bottom of the conventional pitcher towards the surface of the fluid resulting in incomplete, uneven or inefficient mixing of the fluid, and the loss of steam to the atmosphere. Further, the rate of steam and fluid flow near the walls of the conventional pitcher or in areas near sharp angles between surfaces such as the bottom and the sidewalls may be much less than in the center of the fluid, resulting in incomplete or inefficient mixing or uneven heating of the fluid. Also, in using a conventional steaming pitcher with a steaming wand there is typically no discernable or distinct fluid flow pattern visible to the user from the top of the pitcher that indicates to the user that the flow rate of steam and location of the steaming wand are appropriate and resulting in effective mixing of the fluid.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide an improved steaming pitcher that overcomes some of the limitations of the steaming pitchers known in the art.